Two more Moths for the year list.

 Friday 31^st  July 2026.

This was my second ever Miller moth I have seen and both within my Southsea garden.

The Moth Box was back on last night, and the continuing warm weather again brought a good variety of moths, although numbers remain unpredictable. This morning’s total was just under 100 moths.

Two more species were added to my year list, taking the July total to 142 species. That is an exceptional result for both my garden and Andy Fisher’s garden in Cowplain.

Sadly, as I mentioned yesterday in relation to wildfires, the UK has not escaped this awful situation. Dunwich Heath and Minsmere RSPB Reserve have both been badly affected over the past few days, and the fires are only just being brought under control by the Fire Brigade. What caused them? Most likely irresponsible people who failed to put out a campfire properly—or perhaps arson. I have also found discarded glass bottles on heathland in the New Forest, so that could be another possible cause. Whatever the reason, the potential loss of wildlife is beyond comprehension. It will take many years for the heath to return to its former state. Hopefully, we will learn from this and put measures in place to help prevent it from happening again. The planet is heating up, and our summers are becoming hotter and drier.

 

My Moth Box:

Plumed Fan-foot. This is starting to become a regular species to my garden.

It felt much cooler late this morning, with a breezy north-westerly blowing across the garden, although the temperature rose to around 23 degrees by lunchtime. Yesterday afternoon, I gave the Moth Box a thorough clean, clearing away dead flies and cobwebs. Hopefully, this will help attract more moths to the garden.

Two more moth species were added to my year list:

·        Miller moth — only my second-ever record, following one seen in my garden last year.

·     Common Ridgeback (Epermenia chaerophyllela) — a micro moth and, I believe, only the second I have ever seen.

The catch included 91 moths of 25 species. Highlights included a Jersey Tiger, seen by the Moth Box last night and this morning, along with Golden Twin-spot, Lychnis and Plumed Fan-foot.

Above, new for the year was my second ever Common Ridgeback micro moth and below, a different angle of a Jersey Tiger perched on the Moth Box.

There must also have been a large overnight dispersal of Apple Leaf Miners, as the Moth Box attracted no fewer than 38 of these tiny moths, with probably many more present around the garden. The Moths recorded this morning were as follows:

 

MACRO MOTHS	MICRO MOTHS
Jersey Tiger x1	Apple Leaf Miner x38
Miller * x1	Copper-fringed Drab x1
Golden Twin-spot x1	Common Plume x2
Double-striped Pug x5	Garden Mompha x1
Silver Y x1	Rusty-dot Pearl x5
Common Rustic x3	Box Tree Moth x3
Lychnis x1	Common Masoner x2
Bright-line Brown-eye x2	Light Brown Apple Moth x9
Lime-speck Pug x2	Mint Moth x1
Plumed Fan-foot x1	Tree-mallow Tortrix x1
Brimstone Moth x1	Bird-cherry Ermine x1
	White-shouldered House Moth x2
	Common Ridgeback * x1
	Meal Moth x1

 

While checking the Moth Box, I was sure I heard a Green Sandpiper calling somewhere in the distance, but I only heard it just the once. If it was, then this would be an excellent ‘garden tick’. Other insects attracted to my Moth Box was up to three Leafhoppers,  and a Broad Centurian Soldier Fly .